One swing. That's all he needs. That's what he's thinking. One good swing, get the ball on the green and make a birdie. Throw some life into this tournament. That's why Tiger Woods is talking to himself while staring down his second shot on the 13th hole. He's stretching his back because it hurts like hell and is forcing him to do things like lean on hole signs and golf bags between shots. Tiger Woods needs this shot to do something at The Barclays, so he takes a deep breath and mumbles.

"Come on," he says to himself.

He's trying to gear himself up as he steps up to the ball with a 5-wood in his hand, ready to try and play a mighty cut shot over the willow trees on the left side of the hole, over the pond, onto the green and perform another miraculous shot. So, he mumbles the same thing he just did seconds ago, takes another deep breath and takes a violent swing.

Then he falls to his knees.

Then he falls to the ground.

Only television cameras can see where his ball ends up next — over 70 yards to his left — splashing into an algae-coated creek next to the 15th tee box. The crowd yells jokes at him, tells him it's going to be alright and that "You can still win it!" He is grimacing, trying to prop himself back up using the club as a crutch and try and figure out what to do next.

"Well, it actually started the hole before," Woods would tell CBS later, conducting his only post-round interview following Sunday's final round.

"My little tee shot there started it. And 13 just kind of accentuated it."

Woods knew that the chances to walk away from Liberty National Golf Club with a win were dwindling. Adam Scott was minutes away from finishing off a round that would get him to 11-under for the tournament and be the lowest in the clubhouse. Justin Rose was still on the golf course at 11-under, too. And so was Gary Woodland. But no one was finishing off the tournament.

So Woods kept fighting through the pain, trying to collect birdies and hope something would give.

His back was spasming as he picked himself off the ground, walked off the 13th hole, down across the 7th, up to and over the 6th until he finally found the spot where PGA Tour rules officials determined his ball left play near the 15th hole. Head rules honcho Slugger White joined him, walking around with his caddie Joe LaCava, cops, marshals and wayward fans looking for his ball.

"Did any of you see my ball?" Woods asked them.

None of them did.

He finally dropped one, hit a high wedge shot back to the 13th and made a bogey. One obstacle down. Then he made a par on the 14th. Another down, but he was running out of holes. A missed putt on No. 15 for birdie dwindled the chances. It appeared that Woods was going to leave Jersey City hobbling and finishing three shots behind Scott.

Then, finally — a birdie at No. 16. He climbed back to 9-under. Two holes to go.

"I had a chance," Woods said the 16th. "I don't know how I hit that 8-iron that far and I had 90 (yards) total and flew it almost to the flag, so a bit surprised by that. But I hit a good putt."

He made another birdie at the 17th. One hole to go. After all of the pain, all of the forced shots through back spasms and the fighting to keep his score within reach of those already finished ahead of him, Woods was at 10-under and needing a birdie on the final hole to force a playoff with Scott.

"When the pressure is on you to close out, it's much harder," Scott would say later. "The holes become much hard and shots are far more crucial."

Woods knew that as he surveyed his putt for birdie on the final hole carefully. He walked it from all angles, took two practice strokes and then stepped up. The ball creeped out to the left and appeared to run out of steam. The crowd began to groan, but Woods knew better. He started walking as the ball got new life. Slowly, it began inching back to the hole, picking up speed.